This DIY is dedicated to everyone on NASIOC who wonders WHY WHY WHY anyone would ever want to get rid of God's Own power steering.
THE WHAT:
Get rid of the power steering pump, re-route the lines and replace the belt from the crank to the alternator.
THE WHY:
Power steering sucks. Those of us with older Ls probably have run into the problem with the horribly designed early Impreza PS reservoir leaking ATF all over the block and headers so there's a ton of white smoke constantly pouring out of the hood and vents. Looks classy. You can either do the 2.5RS PS reservoir modification or, better yet, you can get rid of the whole thing. Weight savings, about 12 pounds wet you don't need off the nose. Don't laugh, that's a pretty good weight savings because the PS pump lives on top of your engine block. Not only does the PS pump rob AT LEAST 1 or 2 HP from the motor (
), but the power steering makes the wheel feel rubbery and unresponsive. This way, you can get real feedback from your front tires instead of it feeling like vague mush filtered through a few hundred mL of ATF and a janky pump. Also, if you want to run a larger radiator, like a Koyo, the PS lines can get in the way. Makes for a cleaner look in the engine bay, too, less clutter and better access to the important stuff, like injectors, coils and plugs.
Pros: All that steering response plus a whopping 1 or 2 HP gain. MOAR POWARZ!! Weight reduction.
Cons: Some people complain about it being difficult to move the wheel at speeds under 10 MPH and parallel park without power steering. Whatever, your arms will get yoked without PS. Man up.
THE TOOLS:
10mm socket
12mm socket
14mm socket
15mm wrench
17mm wrench
Hacksaw
1" diameter hose clamps
A short length of coolant hose with about a 1 cm opening
Your mom's good turkey baster
Napa timing belt part #25-050275 (~$12)
THE HOW:
Remove any intake or other things that are in the way. Open the PS reservoir and draw out all of the PS fluid (ATF) you can from the reservoir with the baster. Then, basically start unbolting everything you see on the pump. The reservoir will come off first, it sits on a plate on top of the pump. Once the reservoir is off, take your 17mm wrench and loosen the two lines that connect to the pump. The lines going back to the steering rack are connected by small brackets to the block. Remove the brackets and push the lines off to the side. Keep unbolting the pump. It's attached to a heavy bracket coming off the block. Once it's loose, remove the belt and the pulley. Take a screwdriver and wedge it in between the spokes of the pulley so it holds it in place while you loosen the pulley's nut. Pull everything out once you're done. It's a heavy piece of dead weight, isn't it?
Take the two PS lines and trace them back to the steering rack. It's a very tight squeeze. It might help to jack up the front end of the car and look at the rack from underneath the car to see what you're removing. While you're down there, loosen the flexible linkage from steering column to the rack. Push the linkage to one side. The two PS lines connect to the steering rack with one 17mm fitting and one 15mm fitting. Attack them with your wrenches until they're loose. Pull the two lines out of the engine bay and take them to your bench.
What you have to do is loop the openings on the steering rack back onto themselves, so the steering rack doesn't squirt any leftover ATF in the rack when you turn the wheel and to make sure mud or debris doesn't get into the rack. Take a look at the two lines. Since there is one 17mm to 17mm line and one 15mm to 17mm line, we can use the second line to make a loop. Discard the 17mm to 17mm line. Take your hacksaw and cut off the hardline about 2" from either end, so you have two very short hardlines with the 17mm and 15mm fittings. One end will have a sharp 90 degree turn right after the fitting. Cut about 1 1/2" after the 90 degree turn.
Take the two short hardlines back to the rack and finger tighten them onto the steering rack. Position the 90 degree elbow so you can get a sense of how much heater hose you'll need to hook it up to the other cut hardline. Shouldn't be more than a few inches. Loosen the fittings and take the hardlines back to your bench. Take your length of heater hose and hose clamps and fit them onto the cut off hardlines. Clamp the hose down tight. Take this new shorter line back to the steering rack and tighten down the fittings. There's almost no space to work with so use gloves. When you're done, reconnect the steering linkage. Steer the wheel lock to lock a few times and check for any leaks coming from the loop.
Cool? Now take your timing belt and put it on the crank and alternator pulleys. Loosen and add tension with the tensioner to the left side of the alt (10mm bolt, IIRC). Make sure it's nice and snug but not too tight or else you'll fry your alt.
That's it. Now go experience what bump steer and roll steer actually feel like. It's nice to be able to tell what your tires are doing simply by feel.
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THE WHAT:
Get rid of the power steering pump, re-route the lines and replace the belt from the crank to the alternator.
THE WHY:
Power steering sucks. Those of us with older Ls probably have run into the problem with the horribly designed early Impreza PS reservoir leaking ATF all over the block and headers so there's a ton of white smoke constantly pouring out of the hood and vents. Looks classy. You can either do the 2.5RS PS reservoir modification or, better yet, you can get rid of the whole thing. Weight savings, about 12 pounds wet you don't need off the nose. Don't laugh, that's a pretty good weight savings because the PS pump lives on top of your engine block. Not only does the PS pump rob AT LEAST 1 or 2 HP from the motor (
), but the power steering makes the wheel feel rubbery and unresponsive. This way, you can get real feedback from your front tires instead of it feeling like vague mush filtered through a few hundred mL of ATF and a janky pump. Also, if you want to run a larger radiator, like a Koyo, the PS lines can get in the way. Makes for a cleaner look in the engine bay, too, less clutter and better access to the important stuff, like injectors, coils and plugs.Pros: All that steering response plus a whopping 1 or 2 HP gain. MOAR POWARZ!! Weight reduction.
Cons: Some people complain about it being difficult to move the wheel at speeds under 10 MPH and parallel park without power steering. Whatever, your arms will get yoked without PS. Man up.
THE TOOLS:
10mm socket
12mm socket
14mm socket
15mm wrench
17mm wrench
Hacksaw
1" diameter hose clamps
A short length of coolant hose with about a 1 cm opening
Your mom's good turkey baster
Napa timing belt part #25-050275 (~$12)
THE HOW:
Remove any intake or other things that are in the way. Open the PS reservoir and draw out all of the PS fluid (ATF) you can from the reservoir with the baster. Then, basically start unbolting everything you see on the pump. The reservoir will come off first, it sits on a plate on top of the pump. Once the reservoir is off, take your 17mm wrench and loosen the two lines that connect to the pump. The lines going back to the steering rack are connected by small brackets to the block. Remove the brackets and push the lines off to the side. Keep unbolting the pump. It's attached to a heavy bracket coming off the block. Once it's loose, remove the belt and the pulley. Take a screwdriver and wedge it in between the spokes of the pulley so it holds it in place while you loosen the pulley's nut. Pull everything out once you're done. It's a heavy piece of dead weight, isn't it?
Take the two PS lines and trace them back to the steering rack. It's a very tight squeeze. It might help to jack up the front end of the car and look at the rack from underneath the car to see what you're removing. While you're down there, loosen the flexible linkage from steering column to the rack. Push the linkage to one side. The two PS lines connect to the steering rack with one 17mm fitting and one 15mm fitting. Attack them with your wrenches until they're loose. Pull the two lines out of the engine bay and take them to your bench.
What you have to do is loop the openings on the steering rack back onto themselves, so the steering rack doesn't squirt any leftover ATF in the rack when you turn the wheel and to make sure mud or debris doesn't get into the rack. Take a look at the two lines. Since there is one 17mm to 17mm line and one 15mm to 17mm line, we can use the second line to make a loop. Discard the 17mm to 17mm line. Take your hacksaw and cut off the hardline about 2" from either end, so you have two very short hardlines with the 17mm and 15mm fittings. One end will have a sharp 90 degree turn right after the fitting. Cut about 1 1/2" after the 90 degree turn.
Take the two short hardlines back to the rack and finger tighten them onto the steering rack. Position the 90 degree elbow so you can get a sense of how much heater hose you'll need to hook it up to the other cut hardline. Shouldn't be more than a few inches. Loosen the fittings and take the hardlines back to your bench. Take your length of heater hose and hose clamps and fit them onto the cut off hardlines. Clamp the hose down tight. Take this new shorter line back to the steering rack and tighten down the fittings. There's almost no space to work with so use gloves. When you're done, reconnect the steering linkage. Steer the wheel lock to lock a few times and check for any leaks coming from the loop.
Cool? Now take your timing belt and put it on the crank and alternator pulleys. Loosen and add tension with the tensioner to the left side of the alt (10mm bolt, IIRC). Make sure it's nice and snug but not too tight or else you'll fry your alt.
That's it. Now go experience what bump steer and roll steer actually feel like. It's nice to be able to tell what your tires are doing simply by feel.
